This Spicy Peppered Beef Jerky recipe is the perfect combination of spicy, salty, and sweet. It’s all about the freshly ground peppercorns, which level up the flavors with peppery heat along with a subtle fruity note. Brown sugar, garlic, and smoked paprika—plus soy and Worcestershire sauces—seal the deal!
It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of beef jerky! It’s protein-packed, portable, and really just the perfect snack all around. We’ve shared recipes for both this classic simple jerky recipe and the sweeter teriyaki beef jerky, but for this pepper jerky recipe, we wanted to crank up the heat and make a spicy version.
We knew early on that we wanted to bring peppercorns on board. Black pepper might be a common ingredient, but a large amount of freshly ground peppercorns really brings something extra magical to the equation. We use an entire tablespoon of ground pepper in this one, with zero regrets.
This peppered beef jerky recipe brings a manageable (but noticeable!) amount of heat along with subtly fruity and bright notes of flavor. The result is a “bet you can’t eat just one” spicy beef jerky recipe that keeps you coming back for more!
Ingredients
- Beef: For this pepper jerky recipe, we like to use an eye of round, cut ⅜” thick. Many other lean cuts of beef work well too, such as top round, top sirloin, London broil, or flank steak. What’s important is that it’s lean—you actually want to avoid beef with a lot of fat because the fat can’t dehydrate.
- Reduced sodium soy sauce: We love the umami flavor that soy sauce brings, but it can become overly salty in larger quantities. So we recommend going with reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari (tamari is also gluten-free if that’s a factor for you).
- Worcestershire sauce: This full-of-flavor sauce adds both sweet and savory notes with a touch of sour.
- Brown sugar: Adds some sweetness and depth of flavor. We’ve used both light and dark brown sugar, and both work well.
- Peppercorns: Freshly ground! Once peppercorns are ground, they start to lose their oils. So for max flavor, we grind them just before using them. We’re fans of the Rainbow Peppercorns grinder from Trader Joes, which has black, pink, and green peppercorns. But just black peppercorns will work, too.
- Garlic paste: The kind that comes in a tube is super convenient, and the paste really helps the flavor get into the meat, but finely minced garlic cloves work too.
- Smoked paprika: This superhero of a seasoning brings a touch of peppery paprika flavor plus subtle smoky notes.
- Sea salt: Just a small amount brings the solution to the right amount of saltiness overall, which is important for shelf-stable jerky.
Step By Step
First, slice the beef. Slice the meat as thinly as possible, cutting with the grain for chewier jerky or against the grain for tender jerky. Trim off any visible fat, then pound the slices with a meat tenderizer tool until all of the pieces are roughly the same thickness, about ⅛-inch (4mm) tall (about the height of two stacked nickels). Transfer the beef to a zip-top storage bag.
Now it’s time to make your marinade. Whisk together all of the marinade ingredients in a small bowl, then pour it over the beef. Seal the bag and massage it a bit to distribute the marinade around all of the pieces of meat. Refrigerate it for 12-36 hours, shaking the bag every few hours to make sure all the pieces of beef stay evenly coated.
Dehydrate the jerky! Preheat your dehydrator to 145°F (63°C), then spread the meat in a single layer in your dehydrator trays, shaking off any excess marinade. Dehydrate your peppercorn beef jerky for 4-6 hours. Be sure to check it every now and then for any fat droplets that have risen to the top of your jerky and blot them off with a paper towel.
Check for doneness. Remove a piece of jerky from the dehydrator and let it cool a bit, then bend it. If it’s dry with white fibers and bends without cracking, it’s done!
Bake 10 minutes for safety: After the jerky has dried in the dehydrator, do a post-dry heat in the oven (in accordance with the OSU Extension/Pacific Northwest Extension’s guide to making safe jerky). This helps to eliminate any remaining pathogens for the safest batch of jerky. Just preheat your oven to 275°F (135°C), lay the beef jerky on a baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes.
Cool and store. Let it cool completely, then enjoy a few pieces (mandatory!) while you prep the rest for storage.
Equipment Spotlight: Dehydrators
If you’re in the market for a dehydrator, we recommend buying one with an adjustable temperature. This will allow you to dial in the drying temp to give you the best results for individual ingredients. The dehydrator we recommend (and use) most often is the COSORI dehydrator. You can also check out our best dehydrators post for a comparison of all the dehydrators we’ve used and would recommend.
Tips for Making
- Double the pepper for more heat! Prefer a spicier jerky? Increase the ground pepper to 2 tablespoons.
- Freeze the beef before slicing. This step isn’t required, but it makes the meat much easier to slice thinly. Just place it in the freezer for an hour or two before slicing to firm it up.
- Or better yet, see if your butcher will slice the beef. Ask at the butcher counter if they’ll slice your meat for you. Not only will it save you time, the slices will be thin and consistent, so it’s a win-win!
- For tender jerky, cut against the grain of the meat. This cuts across the fibers, shortening them and creating the most tender pepper jerky.
- For chewy jerky, cut with the grain. This keeps the fibers long and makes for a chewier jerky.
- Pound out the slices of beef with a mallet. This helps tenderize the meat while also giving you consistently thin slices of pepper jerky. Don’t go overboard, though! If you tenderize it too much, it can become mushy, so make sure the pieces of beef retain some structure.
- Preheat the dehydrator. You’ll want to dehydrate at 145°F (63°C).
- Set a timer. This helps you remember to pull your jerky out of the dehydrator on time; otherwise, you can risk it becoming over-dehydrated.
- Bake for 10 minutes after dehydrating. This is an important food safety step for this pepper beef jerky recipe (or any beef jerky), in accordance with OSU’s guide to making safe beef jerky. Just transfer the dehydrated jerky to a baking sheet and bake in your oven at 275°F (135°C) for 10 minutes.
Storage
The longer you plan to keep jerky, the more careful you’ll want to be about how you store it.
- Up to one week: Peppercorn beef jerky will be okay for up to a week in a plastic bag or non-airtight container. Keep it out of direct light; the less exposure to air, the better.
- Up to two months: Place your jerky in an airtight container and keep it at room temperature away from direct light.
- Two to six months: Vacuum-seal your beef jerky in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to six months.
- Six months to a year: Vacuum-seal jerky in an airtight container and keep it in your freezer. Adding a moisture-absorbing packet will help it last longer.
- 1 lb eye of round, or top round, top sirloin, London broil, or flank steak
- ¼ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup water
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground peppercorns1, combo of black, pink, and green
- 2 teaspoons garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
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Slice the meat into ~⅜ inch-thick pieces, removing as much visible fat as possible. Then cut the meat into 1” strips. Place in a large zip-top bag and set aside.
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Mix the soy sauce, water, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, ground peppercorns, garlic, smoked paprika, and salt in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Pour into the zip-top bag with the meat, taking care to ensure that the meat is evenly coated. Place in the fridge to marinate 12-24 hours.
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After the meat has marinated, place the strips onto your dehydrator trays. Sprinkle with additional cracked pepper. Dehydrate at 145° for 4-6 hours, until the meat has dried. The general rule of thumb is if you bend a piece and it bends and cracks (but doesn’t break), it’s done.
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Use tongs to transfer the jerky to a baking sheet so that they are not touching or overlapping one another. Heat them in a preheated 275°F oven for 10 minutes.
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Remove and set aside to cool completely before placing in an airtight container.
Storage
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Jerky will last 1-2 months in a sealed container at room temperature, 3–6 months in the refrigerator, and up to 1 year in the freezer.2
